DHARAMSALA: The Central Tibetan Administration mourned the sad of demise of Mr Tashi Choedar, a veteran patriot in the resistance movement against communist China’s invasion, who later dedicated over 40 years of his life for the Tibetan cause in exile.

Tashi Choedar la (1937 - 2011)

Mr Choedar was born to Drenya Jhara family in Lhoka district (presently under Tsona district) in 1937. Between the age of 8 and 11 he learned Tibetan reading and writing at a school in Jhayul which was specially established by His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s family.

In 1956, he was chosen in a clandestine way by His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s elder brother and Kasur Gyalo Dhondup and sent to Darjeeling via Tawang to learn modern education, particularly English and accounts.

Subsequently in 1959, he joined many Tibetan youngsters in Colorado, US, and worked in translation works for three years. He returned to India in 1961.

In yet another secret mission, he was dispatched to the US in 1962 to sharpen his language skills and learn international politics and administrative management at George Town University in Washington, DC and Cornell University, New York.

In 1965, he returned to India as called by Kasur Gyalo Dhondup and worked for some time as a staff in Sumdrel Lekhung in Delhi. Owing to his dedicated service as head of the Delhi office’s Tibetan research and analysis wing for many years and the remarkable achievements that he made, he was appointed to the post of deputy secretary in the Central Tibetan Administration in 1978.

While working in Delhi he made good use of his spare time to take special interest in studying the status of China’s military strategies in Tibet and wrote a book on it in English.

Eventually, after taking retirement from the service as the department of security’s joint secretary in 1999, he went to the US on immigration and spent the remaining part of his life with the family. Never remaining idle, he produced books on Tibetan proverbs and kept alive his enthusiasm and interest in following the issue of Tibet.

Good temperament and gift for striking up good rapport with the colleagues are some of the special feature of his personality.

But the unavoidable cycle of birth, old age, illness and death is an inborn part of every living being.

So as he began feeling unwell in the later part of 2010, he received the opportunity to get the blessings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala. Mr Choedar la breathed his last in US after prolonged illness on 18 April 2011. He was 74.

In a condolence message to its former joint secretary, all the staff of the Department of Security of the Central Tibetan Administration conveyed their commiseration and prayers to the family members of late Mr Choedar la.

“He dedicated more than 40 years of his life for the cause of Tibet with impeccable integrity and commitment, leading a meaningful life and one of the senior officials of administration. We offer our prayers and extend deep appreciation for his achievements,” the department said in the message.